We’ll be eating white bread and white rice for every meal for a while unless I can figure out how to do things like the soup.

He’ll be doing this low residue situation for 2 weeks after surgery. No vegetables. No fruit. No fiber. No whole grains. No spices.
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Jon’s leave from work started today so that he could get stuff accomplished before being out of commission for a while, but we’re just about ready to go from this perspective, too.

We did some final shopping today and bought him a robe since we learned he’ll have a catheter and won’t be able to wear pants for a couple of days.

(I’ve promised not to google to determine exactly how a catheter works because ignorance is the way he wants to go with this. I am DYING to know, though.)

We’ll probably pack a bag tomorrow + get the iPad and kindle loaded up. I’m planning to camp out with him the entire time (we’ve been told to expect anywhere from 3-7 days in the hospital) and have no idea what to expect – so I’m taking lots of stuff to read. I asked – we will have wifi + a private room. I have no idea what I’ll eat – or where to obtain food – but I’m sure it will be fine.

He starts the colon cleaning thing (?) tomorrow – drinking the stuff + starving himself. It will probably suck as much as it did last week.
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We’ve had some fun this weekend, for sure.

His kids + mom + the two of us decided that “save the poop chute” seems to be an entirely acceptable colon cancer awareness slogan.

Colonoscopy awareness? “One crappy day … could save your life.”

Realistically – there’s no “polite” way to handle it. So why try?

Jon’s kids will have to have their first colonoscopy at 30 because of the strong genetic link.

And I’m trying to determine how best to get one myself – because I don’t want to lie about non-existent symptoms – but can’t necessarily easily afford to pay for it out-of-pocket, either.

(Did you know that a PET scan costs $7000? And that some insurance companies will determine they understand medical care better than actual medical professionals and will decide not to cover such things after they’ve occurred? Yeah. We’re so incredibly lucky to have the health-care access we have, I know – but still.)

I love “save the poop shoot”. Let me know if you ever make t-shirts or do a 5K for it.

I was just catching up, I’m SO glad you are comfortable with the oncologist and that there was a positive energy there.

I had a catheter during surgery once, I remember nothing about, except that it didn’t feel that great when they removed it. But it was totally creepy/funny to be “peeing” without the act of knowing what I was doing.

Keep the internets posted tomorrow. My thoughts will be with you both and hoping for the best possible outcome.

GOOD LUCK TOMORROW. Man. I know you have more important things to attend to, but if there’s any way to update I’d love to hear it.

We do colonoscopies here at work, as part of our preventive exam, and we have found SO MANY people who had issues, even those with no symptoms. It’s just really important to have the exam, if you are able. I wish there was a way to make the prep less miserable.

Save the chocolate speedway! Best wishes on the best possible outcome.

Go get a good soup cookbook. So much fun to make (even for people who don’t much like to cook, like me), and you can make vatloads of broth, freeze it and fill it with good things (even strained). Think of chicken galangal and tom yum and plain old chicken noodle and turkey rice and adding a bag of frozen cheese tortellinis to a pot of chicken broth. You can go on and on. Healthy, tasty, and you control exactly what goes into it. I wish I were a nearby neighbor–I’d come over and bring soup and flowers.